When the weather plays nice + girls day out + steak tacos and truffle fries!

I hope you enjoyed your weekend! Our weather decided to play nice and was in the 50’s all weekend long. 🙂 Super pleased about that! Also, I am pretty thrilled that the days are starting to get longer again –> the sun now sets around 5pm instead of 4pm (yippee!).

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Let’s rewind to Friday…

Joel wanted to take advantage of the ice before it melted, so he headed out to the pond for some skating and ice hockey. He’s probably the only person in Connecticut who doesn’t want it to warm up — he sure does love ice hockey!

Friday evening we popped out to New Haven to pick up Joel’s favorite granola cereal (find it HERE). He’s been a major fan of this cereal for YEARS. He likes to eat it with almond milk in the mornings. Almond milk makes everything more delicious! This is the kind of almond milk we always get. 🙂

For dinner we made this lovely french rack of pork and ate it with veggies and sweet potato. We don’t often cook pork at home, but it was pretty awesome! Joel put hot sauce on his and said it was tasty. I ate mine plain this time around but next time there might have to be some hot sauce involved! There was plenty left over, so we froze it for later 🙂

Our Friday night consisted of the latest This is Us episode. I hope this show has a good long run, because I will not be ready to say goodbye to it anytime soon. While watching it, Joel also worked on his “heat shield” in preparation for a winter camping trip with Walter. Do you love winter camping? I like to camp when it’s not freezing, so winter camping is not my thing. Joel and Walter are really psyched to get out there and sleep on the cold ground though lol 🙂

Saturday morning involved a quick trip to the store to grab (…you guessed it) CANTALOUPE! 🙂 You guys know I am still squarely in the midst of this melon obsession. I’m glad our grocery store always has a serious pile in stock. What are your tips for picking the perfect melon? What’s with the ones that have all the dimples and divots? Are they a go or no go? You’d think I’d be an expert at picking melons by now, but I mostly just wing it and hope for the best. 🙂

Saturday afternoon I headed over to Powder Ridge to hang out with a few girlfriends! It was my first time going to Powder Ridge and it was fun checking out a new spot!

A couple of the girls (Ro and Diana) wanted to go snow-tubing, while the rest of us (Bernice, Amy, and I) planned to just chill and drink hot chocolate in the lodge.

We were lucky enough to nab the couch right in front of this cozy fire! Side note, Joel and I have talked about one day upgrading the fireplace in our house to a gas fireplace. It would be AMAZING to have the convenience of a fire at the push of a button! Another upside to gas (versus wood) is no stale campfire smell lingering in the air for days. Sitting in front of this fire at the lodge reminded me how nice it will be once we get around to doing this in our house!

We played a round of Dutch Blitz at the lodge. Bernice just learned how to play while she was in Jamaica, and she loves it! I’m always thrilled when others enjoy Dutch Blitz as much as I do! Find it HERE! <– pro tip: get the expansion pack too if you want to play with more than 4 people 🙂

Turns out talking and playing cards works up quite the appetite! We grabbed lunch at the lodge restaurant –> “Fire at the Ridge“. I got the steak tacos from the starter menu, and they were INCREDIBLE! The steak was perfectly cooked. I loved that they came with flour tortillas (I’m not a fan of corn tortillas) –> and the guacamole was perfectly seasoned! The next time I am at Powder Ridge, I will definitely be ordering these exact tacos again.

Ro got these ridiculously delicious Parmesan Truffle fries with her meal. She let me try a few and WOWIEE, I am a convert. I know I am late to the bandwagon but oh my goodness, they were unreal! How is it possible that I’ve never had Parm Truffle fries before? I am glad I listened to Ro. She knows what she’s talking about. These fries are EVERYTHING y’all.

While at the lodge, we heard great things about Guida’s –> a diner style restaurant that just happened to be near the lodge. On the way home, we stopped in for some ice cream 🙂

Bernice decided on the mango flavor. Ro and I sampled some of it… I can now confirm that it is indeed true: Guida’s has GREAT ice cream, folks! Next time, I will be trying their peppermint flavor 🙂

The rest of Saturday night was spent hanging out with the girls at home. We veg’d on the couch, watched a movie (Confessions of a Shopaholic), and ordered Thai delivery for a late-night dinner. I got the mango curry with tofu and it did not disappoint! 🙂 I haven’t had tofu in a minute so it was a nice re-introduction to it. I also really appreciated all the veggies that were in the curry (carrots, cucumber, pineapple, onion)!

Sunday morning involved Church at a new-to-me location. Bernice goes to the same church as us, and we decided to try out one of the church’s other locations (there are 5 across Connecticut). She has been to this location before and liked it (I did too!). She picked me up and we carpooled so that we wouldn’t have to find parking for more than one vehicle.

After church we stopped in at the local library so that I could sign up for a card. We have lived in Connecticut for 4 years and I finally feel like an official resident now that I have my own library card. 🙂 Joel got his years ago so I guess I am the only one behind on life. I am excited to take advantage of all the cool stuff our library has to offer!

The first order of business was to find and check out our next book club read: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides! (find it HERE) Bernice checked it out too — I am happy to report that I have convinced her to join our book club. 🙂

By the time Bernice dropped me off home it was late and I was super hungry! Luckily, Ethiopian leftovers came to the rescue! I will never tire of this cuisine 🙂

Sunday concluded with hot chocolate, a cozy blanket, and the first couple chapters of Middlesex. So far so good! 🙂

Do you like winter camping? What about snow tubing or Dutch Blitz? What are your thoughts on Parmesan truffle fries? Got any book recommendations for my wish list?

Sounds like a fun weekend Dawn! Truffle fries are delicious and I always consider buying some sort of truffle oil or salt after having some.
I can’t believe you waited 4 years to get a library card! I’m pretty sure I got mine within a week of moving into our apartment lol. I could never go that long with out a library.
I really enjoyed “An Accidental Life” By Pamela Binnings Ewen.

Ooh that’s a good tip! Thanks! I’ll try smelling the cantaloupe next time we are at the store. I’m glad I’m not the last one to the truffle fry party — I hope you’ll get a chance to try them soon, they are crazy good! 🙂